1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method capable of recording an image or the like on a recording medium transported in a predetermined direction.
2. Related Art
Generally, ink jet recording apparatuses (hereinafter, referred to as printers) have been widely known as recording apparatuses that perform a recording operation for a recording medium. For the printers, as a method for improving rub resistance of a recording face (for example, a surface) of the recording medium for which a recording process is performed and suppressing uneven luster of the recording face, technology for coating the recording face with a flat film has been proposed (see JP-A-2007-283732).
In other words, in a printer disclosed in JP-A-2007-283732, a configuration in which, after a record head performs a recording process by injecting ink onto the surface of the recording medium that is transported from the upstream side to the downstream side at a constant speed, varnish coater disposed on the downstream side of the record head in the transport direction of the recording medium coats the recording face of the recording medium in the middle of a transport process with transparent ink as a coating solution is used. However, in this printer, a configuration in which a member (varnish coater) used for coating the recording face of the recording medium is additionally disposed on the transport path of the recording medium, separately from the record head, is used. Accordingly, there is a problem that the size of the apparatus is increased in accompaniment with an increase in the number of components.
Thus, in a printer disclosed in JP-A-2003-53942, a coating solution injecting nozzle for injecting a coating solution is mounted on a record head that is configured so as to perform a recording process by injecting ink while moving along the transport direction of the recording medium. In other words, on a nozzle forming face of the record head of the printer disclosed in JP-A-2003-53942, the coating solution injecting nozzle is formed in a position located on the rear side in the movement direction of the record head at a time when ink is injected onto a recording medium, relative to an ink injecting nozzle. In addition, for each one scanning in which the record head is moved for performing a recording process for the recording medium, ink as a first process solution is injected from the ink injecting nozzle, and at the same time, an overcoat solution as a second process solution is injected from the coating solution injecting nozzle so as to follow the injection of the ink.
However, in the printer disclosed in JP-A-2003-53942, injection of the ink and injection of the overcoat solution for the recording medium are configured to be performed almost simultaneously without any step interposed therebetween. Accordingly, in a step before the ink injected onto the recording face of the recording medium penetrates into the recording medium, the overcoat solution as a second process solution and the ink as a first process solution may be mixed together on the recording face of the recording medium. Therefore, in such a case, a problem such as disturbance of a record image occurs.
On the other hand, when only the overcoat solution is injected by scanning the record head again after performing injection of only the ink by scanning the record head, the ink can be sufficiently penetrated into the recording medium until the overcoat solution is injected. However, in such a case, there is a problem that the throughput of the apparatus is decreased in accompaniment with an increase in the number of scanning operations of the record head.
Such a problem also occurs in a recording apparatus in which a plurality of recording processing units are mounted on a moving unit configured to be movable in predetermined directions including the transport direction of the recording medium, and recording processes using different types of process solutions are performed by using the recording processing units while the moving unit is moved with respect to the recording medium.